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Politics & Government

Public Works Employees Accept Wage Freeze in Forest Hills

Council approved a collective bargaining agreement with its public works employees that includes a year-long wage freeze.

Public works employees in Forest Hills accepted a wage freeze throughout the end of the year in a collective bargaining agreement that borough council approved at its June 15 meeting.

The agreement, which covers seven non-uniform public works employees and three office staff members, freezes wages at last year’s rates for maintenance workers and the head groundskeeper, while granting what amounts to a roughly 6 percent wage increase to the base salary of at least one office worker.

According to Borough Manager Steven Morus, the base salary for maintenance workers will remain at roughly $53,500, with the head groundskeeper making approximately $54,600. An administrative assistant covered under the agreement will make approximately $34,000, compared to about $32,000 last year.

While other terms of the agreement, such as medical coverage, will remain the same, that doesn’t mean the borough is spending the same amount.

According to the borough’s 2011 Budget, the borough expects to pay approximately $15,700 more in total health insurance costs for public works employees this year. Even so, cuts to other expenditures—such as fuel, vehicle repairs, and supplies—brings the overall spending down by roughly $15,000 from 2010.

Councilman Bill Tomasic, who participated in the contract negotiations, said the wage freeze came as a way to offset rising healthcare costs.

“We can’t afford to give them raises and eat the increase in the cost of healthcare,” Tomasic said. “You’re trying to manage as best you can with what you’ve got, and everyone has to understand that.”

While council ratified the agreement Wednesday evening, it also announced the addition two part-time police officers in the borough. The borough’s ability to hire part-time officers was established in a collective bargaining agreement the borough reached with its police force earlier this year.

The police contract, which extends through December 2013, gave the borough the ability to hire part-time officers at the rate of $21 per hour for the first year of employment, with wages increasing to $23 per hour the following year and in subsequent years increasing at a rate proportional to that of full-time officers.

According to a copy of the arbitration award, dated Jan. 21, 2011, part-time officers must meet the same Civil Service criteria as full-time officers.

Regular part-time officers can work no more than 32 hours each week and cannot be used to reduce the normal work weeks of full-time officers. But their shifts can be used to head off overtime costs and cover vacancies.

Tomasic said hiring part-time officers will allow the borough to reduce overtime costs, which account for a large portion of spending.

“The qualifications are equal to whatever a full-time officer has to have,” Tomasic said, adding that some residents hold the misconception that the officers will be less qualified. “We need to fill the slots that are created by injuries, vacations—whatever the case might be—at a reasonable cost.”

According to the 2011 budget—which has yet to be audited—the borough spent nearly $138,000 in overtime for police officers in 2010; the borough expects that number to fall to $90,000 this year and remain there through 2012. Still, overall spending on the police department is expected to increase by roughly $183,500 this year.

The collective bargaining agreement for the police force, comprising nine full-time officers and the chief, includes a base salary of roughly $72,680, representing an increase from $69,200 in 2010. Salaries will increase by 2 percent in 2012 and 2013.

Spending on the public works and police departments makes up a substantial portion of the borough’s budget. The 2011 budget designates about 27 percent of the budget to police and 12 percent to public works.

So much is to be expected, Tomasic said.

“These are things we need to provide,” Tomasic said. “We need public safety; we need a police force.”

But Tomasic added that with an aging population, declining tax base and rising healthcare costs, it has become increasingly more difficult to balance budgets without raising taxes.

“It’s a difficult proposition when you have all of these factors to take into consideration,” Tomasic said. “We’re providing the services our residents need, (but) we’re still trying to balance the costs.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the number of office workers covered under the collective bargaining agreement and their average salaries. Of three office workers, one received a raise under the recently approved collective bargaining agreement.

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